Caracas

Article Summary by: MAHIDHARSINGH

Original Author: Mahidhar Singh

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Caracas is the capital and chief city of Venezuela, in South America. The city stands in a broad valley amid mountains,

high above the shore of the Caribbean Sea, which is just under 10 kilometres (6 miles) away. Although it is within the tropics, the climate is quite cool, because of the height, 915 metres (3000 feet).
Nowadays Caracas is reached from the seaports of La Guaira and Puerto Cabello, or the sea-level airport of Maiquetia by a fine motorway which climbs high up to the city, passing through mountain spurs by way of tunnels, and crossing ravines upon huge bridges.
Caracas was founded by Spanish colonists in 1567. It was the birthplace, in 1783, of Simon Bolivar, Venezuela’s national hero, whose tomb is in the city. Very few of the Spanish colonial-style buildings, which have arched doorways and tiled roofs, now remain, except in the neighbourhood of the central Plaza Bolivar.
Caracas is the country’s principal trading and banking centre. Its industries include wood processing and the production of sugar, processed food, tobacco, and clothing.
Much of the wealth Venezuela has earned from its oil has been to modernize Caracas and to build apartment blocks for the huge numbers of immigrants who have flocked to the city to find work. New, wide avenues have been built. The modern group of buildings known as the Centro Bolivar contains offices, restaurants, and shops. But the rapid growth of the city has caused severe pollution, unemployment, and a chronic shortage of housing. Many thousands of the poorest people still live in shanty towns on the hillsides. The population in 1989 was 1,275,591.

Published: June 26, 2007

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